QB injury an exclamation to miserable day

The rout didn't really begin until Munchie Legaux's gruesome knee injury. It took the air out of the Bearcats.

The injury was hideous, and it defined the day. Munchie Legaux provided a tragic and unintended metaphor for as lost an afternoon as UC football has endured in recent memory.

The Bearcats lost by 31 points to Illinois, a team they were expected to beat. They lost a quarterback, for good. Maybe they lost a little innocence, too. Dreams aren't supposed to end that way.

"I seen it, but I couldn't watch it," was how Bearcats wideout Anthony McClung put it, and that makes perfect sense. McClung saw enough to know it was bad. He couldn't bear to see anymore. "He's my best friend," he said. "It was devastating. My heart dropped."

If you haven't seen the replay, maybe you shoudn't. Legaux, UC's quarterback, was hit near his left knee, immediately after delivering a pass. Illinois defensive end Tim Kynard, 6-foot-1 and 270 pounds, had beaten his block. His momentum carried him into Legaux's leg. The leg bent grotesquely, then snapped. If you allowed your mind to drift only a little, it was easy to recall Carson Palmer in January 2006.

Said UC linebacker Greg Blair, "I heard the crowd go silent. I just ran over and grabbed (Legaux's) hand." Blair likened it to the injury suffered by Louisville guard Kevin Ware, in the NCAA tournament last March. "A horrible, horrible scene," Blair said.

It happened in the fourth quarter, with UC down 31-17. The Bearcats had fallen behind 21-0 in the first half, and had looked bad doing it. This was supposed to have been a day that further thrust UC back into the national limelight. A second consecutive win over a Big 10 opponent would attract Top 25 notice, and provide more feelgood to anyone believing the Bearcats belong in a top-tier conference.

Instead, Illinois offered evidence why that remains a worthy aspiration and nothing more. Illini senior quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase did what he wanted most of the game. If he wanted to sit in the pocket and cherry-pick targets down the middle, he did. If he wanted to run misdirection plays that featured reverses to his wideouts, he did that.

When Scheelhaase decided to strike deep down the field, the Bearcats obliged him with single coverage. Which seemed odd, given that nobody expected Illinois to do much but throw the ball. With 7:04 left in the first half, Scheelhaase was already 16 of 19, for 172 yards and two TD throws.

"One of the worst-disciplined games we've had" was Blair's assessment.

(By the way, if you want to feel good about anything from Saturday, Sycamore High grad Steve Hull had three catches for Illinois, including a 22-yard TD grab and a key, 23-yard, drive-extender early in the fourth quarter.)

UC coach Tommy Tuberville said his defense "had a rough time staying up with" Scheelhaase. "His legs got to us (and) their outside guys ran right by us." Tuberville also said something that should give UC backers pause: "It's asking a lot of these kids to play two (Big 10) teams like this, back to back."

Why? UC crushed Purdue last week. Illinois isn't regarded a lot more highly. If the goal is to stay Top 25-relevant, these are games UC has to win.

As strange as it sounds, this was not a blowout until Legaux's injury. In fact, had Legaux's 1-yard TD run in the third quarter, on fourth down, not been overturned, UC would have cut the Illini's lead to 21-17. As it was, a replay determined Legaux fumbled before he crossed the goal line. Illinois then went 99 yards and stole any momentum UC might have had.

"Took the air out of us," Tuberville judged. He said Legaux told him he'd scored before he lost the ball. "The replay has got to be conclusive" to overturn the touchdown call. By Tuberville's estimation, it was anything but.

All of which seemed sadly irrelevant, in the wake of Legaux's injury.

"He was in pretty good pain," Tuberville said.

That's a fair description of the entire team at the moment. A day not seized, a player in a hospital bed in nearby Urbana. A season so shiny a week ago, already in dire need of a regrouping.

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Doc: UC's hope sabotaged by despair

The injury was hideous, and it defined the day. Munchie Legaux provided a tragic and unintended metaphor for as lost an afternoon as UC football has endured in recent memory.